PAC back, West best, Bruton sinks Ducks

More news about: Grove City | Nichols | Yeshiva
Mar 06, 2020
The Wolverines gave the Presidents' Athletic Conference its first NCAA Tournament win in men's basketball since 2002.
Wooster athletics photo by Matt Dilyard
 

Yeshiva got its tournament off and running in front of nobody, Whitworth survived Nate West's 51 points, Nichols won with a shot with 2.2 seconds left, and Grove City gave its conference its first NCAA Tournament win in 18 years. All that and more was part of Friday's first-round action in the 2020 Division III men's basketball NCAA Tournament.

Yeshiva won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history, and did so in front of not a single paid spectator, as the Maccabees defeated WPI 102-78. With host Johns Hopkins University guarding against the coronavirus, the game was played in an empty gym, in front of just the teams, staff and media.

Ryan Turell scored a career-high 41 points, shooting 13-for-16 from the floor and 7-for-9 from 3-point range. YU shot 60.7% from the field and converted 53.6% of its shots from beyond the arc in winning its 28th consecutive game.

"I think our guys came in really focused," coach Elliot Steinmetz told Dave McHugh. "With everything going on in the the last few days, they were excited to just get out on the floor and play, and that energy showed from the second the game started." More from Steinmetz below: 

Nate Peters scored a game-high 26 points and Grove City held Wooster's Danyon Hempy to 17 points on 6-for-20 shooting as the Wolverines picked up the first NCAA Tournament win for the Presidents' Athletic Conference in 18 years. Grove City knocked off the Scots, 67-62.

The last PAC win in the big dance came in the first round in 2002, when Bethany defeated Pitt-Bradford 110-98 in the first round. The win also ended the coaching career of Steve Moore, who finished with 867 career victories.

Isaiah Hernandez hit a jumper with 1.5 seconds left and that was enough to help Whitworth hold on and hold off LeTourneau, 88-86 in first-round play at UT-Dallas. The win came despite the typical herculean effort from the Yellow Jackets' Nate West, who poured in 51 points, 39 of them in the second half as LeTourneau rallied. The Pirates (22-6) led 71-58 with 6:45 to go when West took over, scoring 26 of his team's final 28 points.

Whitworth still led 81-71 with under a minute to play, but the Pirates made only five of 10 free throws in the final 57 seconds. Meanwhile, West converted a four-point play to get the Yellow Jackets within three and scored a game-tying basket with 7.7 seconds left. After a timeout Hernandez took the inbounds, drove the length of the floor and hit a short, well-contested jumper in the key with 1.5 seconds left. LeTourneau was without a timeout and had trouble inbounding the ball. A length-of-the-floor attempt was no good and the Pacific Northwest took Nate West's team down.

"I just tried to get to the rim," Hernandez said afterwards about his game-winning shot. "I was lucky enough to get the shot I wanted."

DeAnte Bruton knocked down the go-ahead jumper with 2.2 seconds remaining to lift Nichols to a thrilling 74-72 win at Stevens. The Bison (21-8) trailed 70-65 with 1:08 on the clock before a layup from Matt Morrow cut the deficit to three with 49 to go. A steal by Nate Tenaglia on the inbounds pass led to a pair of free throws by Bruton to make it 70-69. Nichols then forced a 10-second violation and Bruton knocked down his second 3-pointer of the night to give the Bison the lead at 72-70 with 16 seconds left.

Ducks senior Michael Zignorski was fouled at the other end of the floor and sank both free throws to tie the game at 72, setting the stage for Bruton's heroics. He dribbled the ball up the left side of the court and knocked down a fade away jumper to put the Bison ahead. Kevin Florio had one final look for the Ducks, but his long 3-pointer rimmed in-and-out. Bruton scored 15 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, coming after a Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament in which he averaged 38.0 points per game over three games. Nichols will face Christopher Newport. 

Christopher Newport held Colby to a season-low 64 points Friday night, advancing to the second round with a 74-64 triumph at Canavan Arena. Christopher Newport opened the action by holding Colby to just 17 first half points, and after jumping in front, 9-8, never trailed again. The Captains had a 32-17 halftime edge, and the Mules could get no closer than four during two second half surges. Luther Gibbs and Adrian Beasley led the way with 13 points each for the Captains.

Susquehanna sent Benedictine home in the first round, as the Eagles, who got an at-large bid after the team lost three of their final five games, made it four of six and three in a row. The River Hawks held the Eagles scoreless over a six-minute stretch in the second half, scoring 12 consecutive points to take a 50-49 lead with 5:52 left. Benedictine retook the lead with 1:16 left, but Zachary Knecht hit a putback and the Eagles (20-7) came up empty on their next possession. Susquehanna (21-7) hit five of six from the line the rest of the way to secure the 64-59 victory.

Marietta's season ended on a similar down note, as the Pioneers fell to TCNJ, 89-73 in the first round at Randolph-Macon. The loss was the third in Marietta's final four games, and the fourth in the final seven. The last two minutes of the first half and a slow start in the second half for Marietta was the difference in the game. A jumper from Mike Hall with 2:02 left in the first half got Marietta within a point, 38-37, of the Lions. But TCNJ finished the half with a 7-1 run, including an offensive rebound and put back at the buzzer to lead 45-38 at the break. The Lions kept the momentum to start the second half outscoring Marietta 18-2 in the early going and extending their lead to 62-40, with 15:06 left in the game. It's TCNJ's first NCAA Tournament win since Greg Grant led then-Trenton State to the national title game in 1989.

St. Joseph (Conn.) saw its storybook season come to an end, as Hobart took the Bluejays down in their first NCAA Tournament appearance, 78-74, in front of a packed house at Springfield. Hobart held SJC to 37 percent from the floor, right in line with the Statesmen's season average, while Dan Masino led Hobart with 17 points, while Tucker Lescoe added 16. First-year Hobart coach Stefan Thompson chatted with Frank Rossi after his team's victory: 

Mason Memmelaar hit a layup with 23 seconds left and RPI staved off New England College. The Pilgrims rallied from a 16-point second-half to take the lead with 1:24 left before the Engineers (24-4) came away with the win. Stephen Fama made a jump shot with 1:24 to play to give the Pilgrims (21-7) the lead and Rensselaer followed with a miss that NEC rebounded. RPI regained possession when Dom Black drew an offensive foul with 39 seconds to play, setting up a missed three point attempt, an offensive rebound by Jonny Angbazo and Memmelaar's basket from inside. Following a timeout, Jamal Allen took a contested three point attempt from the left wing with under 10 seconds left and a tip on the rebound hit the rim before RPI freshman Will Rubin secured the ball with a second remaining for the victory.

Seventh-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan advances to the second round of the Division III NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season but it wasn't easy as the Prairie Wolves had to rally back from a halftime deficit to defeat Webster 77-73. Webster led 37-29 at halftime, thanks to their tough zone defense and poor shooting by the Prairie Wolves.  NWU was 1-14 from 3-point land in the first half and just 36.7 percent overall. In the second half, the Prairie Wolves scored on their first seven possessions of the half, and tied the game less than three minutes in.  The Gorloks battled and went toe-to-toe with the nationally-ranked Prairie Wolves and built their lead back up to six points.

Junior Burt Hedstrom sank the Tommies' lone 3-point basket of the second half, and it came at the perfect moment. Hedstrom erased a brief St. Norbert lead with a clutch trey that helped No. 4-ranked St. Thomas outlast the No. 23-ranked Green Knights, 67-60. SNC (23-5) opened the second half on a 33-14 run to take a stunning 58-57 lead. But Hedstrom answered with a 3-pointer with 3:10 to play to start a game-closing 10-2 St. Thomas run. Anders Nelson scored 27 points as the Tommies (25-3) advanced to Saturday night's second-round game. Nelson sank 5-of-6 free throws in the final 45 seconds.

After trailing for a majority of regulation time, Ithaca posted a thrilling, comeback overtime victory over Babson 94-88. Ssenior Sebastian Alderete scored on a layup with 3.8 seconds left to tie the game at 78-78 and send the opening round matchup into overtime. Babson managed to get to within three points at 89-86 with 19 seconds left. The Bombers ended the contest by going 4-for-5 at the line the rest of the way. Ithaca attempted five free throws during regulation but went to the line 12 times in the extra five minutes, making 10 of those attempts. The Bombers (24-5) have won 12 consecutive games.

UW-Eau Claire's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2001 will be extended to a second night, as the Blugolds down Whitman 78-61 at St. John's. The Blugolds (20-9) led the Blues by five at the half before UWEC exploded with 15 consecutive points to begin the second half, going up 56-36. Except for a run from Whitman (20-8) with three minutes left to make it an 11-point game, that comfortable lead would hold the entire second half for the Blugolds.

Carson Cohen sank two free throws with five seconds left as Tufts overcame a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat Western Connecticut 74-72. Tufts outscored the Colonials 16-0 in the final 4:40 to complete a 14-point comeback in the final minutes. Thoerner started it with a layup and then Cohen sunk a three to bring the Jumbos within nine with 3:08 to go  Thoerner made another layup and the free throw after and then Rogers followed that with a dunk and a layup to cut the deficit to two with 1:21 to go.  Another layup from Rogers tied the game at 72 with 32 seconds remaining, but he missed the free throw attempt after to put the Jumbos ahead.  On the Colonial end of the court Wes Nelson got off a three and Cohen grabbed a clutch defensive rebound with eight seconds left.  He was fouled three seconds later and made both free throws to put the Jumbos up 74-72.  The Colonials inbounded the ball and got up the court, but Legend Johnson's shot was blocked by Cohen and the Jumbos picked up the 74-72 win.

Derek Dotlich, Jake Rhode and Lavon Thomas combined to score 50 points to lead Elmhurst past Lycoming 97-73 and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bluejays led from wire-to-wire, improving to 24-5 on the season and marching into the second round with the 24-point victory. Dotlich led Elmhurst and all scorers with 18 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from downtown. Elmhurst will play the hosts, Wittenberg.